The Power of Suggestion

Brother Paul has been wearing me out this week with post after post of fishing adventures. After talking to him and hearing the story, I finally had enough and headed over to Evans Lake for the last 30 minutes of daylight after supper.

I was going "fly rod only" and wondered if the bass were still on the beds or if they were back in the normal feeding pattern.

I decided to try a green minnow pattern first but after 20 casts decided to change tactics. There were several bluegill popping the surface but I hadn't seen a bass since I had arrived. I tied on a #14 hare's ear nymph and caught a few baby gills but nothing picture-worthy.

Just as the light began to fade I began to see some bass protecting their beds along the shore. I decided to tie on a small rubber frog and after a few casts finally got a bass to hit it. Fish on!

I had a nice fight with a 1-1/2lb fish on my Temple Fork 5wt and even got to take a picture!

The hook was small but deep enough in the gullet of this fish that I decided to cut the line instead of trying to extract it. The frog was already loose from the #8 hook and we were both winners as I got my frog back and the fish was relatively unharmed. I have read that the hook will rust out in short order as it will be in contact with the fish's digestive acid.

I tied on a small crawfish and tried to get another bedding bass to play but darkness finally caught me.

Here are the flies de jour from left to right,
Green minnow, hare's ear nymph, froggy & crawfish.